The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-05-07
@HYLOTOMUS PILEATUS::"
Or, the Black Woodpecker, ae
Found "at Home"



The study Of birds has had charm
for the greatest as well as the simplest
minds of all time. Solomon and Homer
and Chaucer and Shakespeare. those
marvellous detectives of nature secrets,
were rs tireless in their observations as
Darwin and Wallace have been. The
msthetic side of bird study is not less
fascinating than the scientific side. even
to intensely practical persons, and it
may be doubted whether any field of
investigation can afford q deeper i'm
sight into the mystery of life than that
which covers the history-so far as we
have it-of bird development from both
points Of view. Even geology and anat-
omy borrow q charm from their connec-
ton with this stream of melody and this
fash Of color which come along with the
birds from time too remote to be told
by any calendar. 1t would not be hard
to find great many people who would
agree with John Ruskin in hurting
anathemas at those dry-as-dust special
lists who view all things, animate and
inanimste, as just so many words in a
catalogue Of species or specimens; but
it is very rare indeed that an intelligent
person fails to feel the fascination of a
free and liberal study of nature. Mere
crnithology is pleasing only to the
specialist, but untrammeled bird-study
is quite different thing, and has, as l
have said, captivated the great minds
of all ages. Why should it not. Next
to the cities and man, what can COM
pare with the woods and the birds?
Alexander Selkirk might well ask:
O Solitude, whore are the charms
That cages have seen in thy facet
But there can be no solitude for the
truly contemplative mind where birds
are. Such songs as the mocking bird
sings are at least fairly next to those
of Gcrster and Patti. should find even
the gulf coast hard to endure for any
great while if the birds were all ban
ished from It. With the memory of
hundreds Of lonely but not lonesome
tramps in the gulf coast woods for
years past still fresh in my mind, it is
not unnatural that should speak. with
some enthusiasm on the subject of birds.
Nowhere in the world is there country
so favorably situated for showing Tin
the proper seasons) the washing back
and forth Of avian tides of migration as
is this coast and its hilly background
from St. Mark to New Orleans. So,
too. may add that no region in
America equals it for the number and
variety of its resident birds. True
enough, the negro and the cheap shot
gun are doing all they can to kill every
thing that has wings "a work in which
they are ably assisted by the agents of
the bird-fanciers and plume-gatherers),
but ! have always been able to find
some spots where the beautiful wild
things appear to have been left to enjoy
their immemorial haunts without fear
OF the pot or dread Of the women's bon
nets. These spots are to-day just as
wild and lonely as they were when
Audubon first began his wonderful
work, and they still have in them Just
as much that is new and strange. No
ge&Gine naturalist can fail to be fas-
cinated the moment he reaches one of
them, and the effect is quite as strong
on the senses of the artist. know one
place, scarcely . mile distant from the
Louisville and Nashville railroad track,